


wish you were here (but you're not),

by Raging_Nerd



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Finding Oneself, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Loneliness, References to Depression, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-19 11:00:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22176502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raging_Nerd/pseuds/Raging_Nerd
Summary: Cassie and her brother moved to Stardew Valley to escape... Well, really just Matthias... Cassie simply tagged along because she had nothing better to do.Now Cassie's on her own. After Matthias found his purpose, he packed up and left, leaving his twenty-three year old sister on her own to manage and upkeep the Patel Family Farm.But Cassie doesn't want to keep living on her own... too many ghosts and bad memories keep her from enjoying the solitude her grandfather once told her to hold close to her heart.And then she met Sebastian.For the second time.
Relationships: Sebastian/Female Player (Stardew Valley), Sebastian/Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 8





	wish you were here (but you're not),

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy it!

**Chapter One**

  
  
After Matthias figured out what he wanted to do, he left. 

Cassie helped him pack, watching her older brother carefully as he smiled sweetly to himself. Matthias was happy. He talked and talked, never once letting go of the leather clad notebook he got on his last trip home.

Poetry.

She shouldn’t be surprised. Her whole family was artistically inclined. Her oldest sister, Addison, was a game developer, and her twin, Maddison, was a renowned pianist and singer. Brett, her first brother, was a violinist. He travelled the world and was on countless talk shows, running his own youtube channel with his best friend, Eddie, on how to play well. Then there was Nuura, Matthias’ twin. She followed in their mother’s footsteps. A painter. Nana wasn’t surprised.

But she and Matthias? They were the runts of the family. Sure, Cassie knew how to dance. Ballet, jazz, hip hop, she had it down.

After Grandpapa died, Nana was harder on Matthias.

Everyone else was so successful. Why couldn’t he be?

It didn’t help that they all compared him to Nuura. “Nuura is going to be famous one day, when will you pick up the slack, Matthias?” Or things like, “All you do is waste away in that apartment of yours! Your twin Nuura lives on her own and all the others with friends or spouses! What are you doing Matthias?”

Taunting.

Everyone taunted her brother.

She couldn’t even say she never did it herself.

But one day, something broke. One day Matthias stood up for himself. It was at Nana’s birthday dinner when she picked on him again, pressing him to find a job that wasn’t writing silly stories and posting them on the internet, or do something that wasn’t making noisy music that didn’t hold any feeling.

Matthias stood up for himself, brandishing the letter that Grandpapa had given to him before he died.

“I’m leaving all of you,” he had screamed, voice cracking as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m tired of this, I’m tired of you!” He turned to look at Nana, and Cassie winced at the hate in his eyes. “Especially you,” Matthias spat, and Nana looked downright offended. “All you do is complain! All you do is pester me!” He exclaimed, almost sounding flabbergasted at the concept. She watched as Addison tried to take his hand, but he recoiled entirely.

“Instead of helping me, you just brought me down,” he mumbled, and Cassie found her appetite diminishing with the pain in his voice. “You never, ever supported me. It didn’t matter what I did.” He chuckled, shoving away the brown hair that had escaped his bun. “Sometimes it only seemed like Mom and Dad cared about me, but I don’t know about that either.”

He looked at them, wiping his eyes quickly. “You were always there when it happened and you never said anything,” he said, shaking his head. “You knew what she was doing at you just brushed it off.” He sunk into his seat then, wrapping his arms around his frame as Nuura and Addison tried to hold him.

“All of you did…”

It was at that moment Cassie realized she had wronged him; that she had broken his heart countless times without even knowing it. It was at that moment Cassie Natika Patel-Crowley knew what she had to do.

“I’ll come with you!” She found herself saying, much to the shock of her siblings, parents, and Nana.

Especially Nana.

“Cassie,” Nana hissed, rubbing her temples. “You can’t entertain these foolish ideas your brother entertains,” she added, shaking her head as if she was a toddler throwing a tantrum once again. “How well do you really think Matthias is going to do on that farm?”

Matthias groaned, rubbing his eyes as Maddison glared at her step-grandmother. “How  _ dare  _ you!?” she exclaimed, glowering at the old woman. “How dare you assume the capabilities of  _ my _ youngest brother?”

Nana chuckled, and Cassie saw Maddison’s confidence dwindle.

“My dear, I have more right to talk to my  _ biological _ grandchild than you have to sit at this table,” she remarked, raising a manicured eyebrow in her direction. “Don’t take your father being my son-in-law as a reason to open your mouth.”

Cassie jumped as her father moved to stop Addison and Maddison from doing anything rash, rubbing the backs of his oldest daughters before turning to look at his mother-in-law.

“You have no right to speak to any of my children the way you are,” he said calmly, squeezing his wife’s shoulder when he saw the tears cascading down the sides of her face.

“Mother,” she whispered through tears, but Nana wasn’t having any of it. 

“I’ll be leaving then,” she quipped, rising from her seat in one fluid motion. “Thank you for the wonderful birthday meal.” She watched Matthias before addressing Zoe. “As my daughter, I expected you to raise your children better than this.”

And then she was gone, with the only remnant of her presence being her dinner plate and the tears left in her wake.

Cassie watched her father walk Mom out of the room, holding her to his chest as they went to their bedroom. Dinner was silent once more until Brett broke the quiet, speaking for the first time since the argument began.

“Anyone want to go for a swim?” he asked, pushing his glasses up his nose as they all began to laugh softly.

Matthias sniffled, nodding as Brett came to his side. The girls cooed as he brought him in for hug, all knowing that Brett didn’t like showing his emotions too much. The violinist brushed it off, shoving all of his siblings outside so they could swim in the pool like they always did in the summer.

But her point still stood.

She still moved to Stardew Valley with her brother two weeks later, art supplies, laptop, novellas, textbooks for her online courses, and everything else she could shove in the five boxes he gave her.

Matthias knew how to farm. When they used to visit Mom’s dad up here, he and Dad would be the ones that helped Grandpapa in the fields.

They knew how to take care of animals, crops, and maintain a happy farm all by themselves.

By the end of the first week, Cassie still couldn’t remember why she had agreed to come.

By the end of the first month, Matthias had managed to drag her around the town to meet his friends.

By the end of the first year, Cassie had her own chores on the farm alongside her brother, and they were happy.

But then… 

But then Matthias finally found out what he wanted to do.

Cassie helped him repack his boxes, frowning as he told her about the wonderful job he had found at Nuura’s workplace.

Poetry.

She shouldn’t be surprised, and yet--

It hurt driving up to the house where Nuura was going to pick him up.

It hurt unloading the boxes knowing he was leaving her.

It  _ especially _ hurt when he placed a heavy kiss on her head, and had wrapped her in the tightest hug, and had told her the farm was all hers.

It hurt.

And now she was at the saloon, beer in hand as a sigh escaped her lips, green eyes staring lazily as Shane glared at her from the corner he stood in.

“ _ Fuuuuuuck _ ,” she whined, resting her head on the table as she led herself through her breathing rhythm again. One, two, three, four; one, two, three--

“Cassie?"

Seafoam eyes met brown when she looked up, blinking slowly at the blue haired woman behind the counter. 

"Are you all right?" Emily asked quietly, movements paused from where she was wiping a glass. "You gave Gus and I a scare, breathing like that. We almost got Harvey to take a look at you."

The girl chuckled, twirling her glass slightly.

"It's fine, Emily," Cassie replied, smiling slightly. "Thanks for the concern, I guess."

The woman still frowned, shaking her head. “Why don’t you go talk to some of the other kids, love? Beating up on yourself because Matthias left isn’t gonna do you any good…”

Cassie dropped her mug, wincing at how it clattered on the counter before stilling. “I’m fine, Emily.” She bit out, glaring at the blue-haired bartender. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need friends.” 

Emily nodded, waving softly when Cassie pushed herself out of the stool. Grabbing her coat from the rack, she shrugged it on, pulling her hat out from the sleeve to place on her head. She wrapped her brother’s scarf around her neck before putting on the mittens he made for her two summers ago.

_ “I won’t be needing these anymore, Cass,” _ Matthias told her with a smile, handing her his blue scarf. Green eyes glittered as she took it, hands wrapping around the soft wool. 

_ “Thank you,” _ she said softly, voice barely above a whisper. Matthias grinned, his own seafoam eyes meeting her matching pair. He leaned down, ruffling her hair.

_ “Anytime, Cassie.” _

Anytime found her struggling to walk home in the snow.

It was so cold. It bit at her cheeks, her nose, her ears--

She collapsed, thankful for the cover of night as she knelt in the soft white. Her pants soaked through at the knees, and Cassie was sure she was going to get frostbite. She shook as tears escaped her eyes, rolling down her face, seeming to freeze with the chill.

She was so cold.

She was so alone.

The bitter winter air nibbled at her face, cheeks flushed red as she began to shake.

She wanted her family here with her…

She wanted her brother back…

Cassie sniffed, trying to stand, hugging her arms as she stood on shaky legs. She stumbled, falling forward so she was on all fours. Snow had snuck into her boots and gloves, wetting the clothing articles and adding to her unpleasant body temperature.

And then she pitched forward as the world faded into black.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. This little ficlet will be updated ever so often... please hang in there though.


End file.
